English Learner Tool Kit for State and Local Education Agencies (SEAs and LEAs)
This toolkit was released in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) and the U.S.
Better Tests, Fewer Barriers: Advances in Accessibility through PARCC and Smarter Balanced
As the title implies, this Center for American Progress publication provides an overview of the general movement toward increased accessibility for students with disabilities (SWDs) and English Language Learners (ELLs). The authors present statistics showing a substantial increase in the numbers of...
What Are Teachers' and School Leaders' Major Concerns About New K–12 State Tests?
The implementation of new consortia-based tests (Smarter Balanced and PARCC) has created concern among both educators and school leaders about increased test difficulty, score accuracy, technology, and educator readiness to prepare students for the new assessments. In this brief report, the authors...
The 5x8 Card
The 5x8 Card is designed for (and with) school principals to help them observe students' use of Practice Standards that are an integral part of the Common Core State Standards Mathematics (CCSS-M). The Card was developed by a Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP) team working in...
Snapshot Collection of the English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework for California Public Schools Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve
The Snapshot Collection includes practical examples to support educators' understanding of how to integrate ELA and discipline-specific literacy demands and provide support to students with language development needs. The snapshots are short illustrations of classroom practices (see the Vignettes...
Common Core and ELLs: Planning Professional Development About Academic Language
This article is part of a series from Colorin Colorado! on planning professional development around the Common Core with English learners (ELs). Written for a district or school curriculum leader, an administrator, or a lead teacher, this article shares guidelines and examples on how to train...
Professional Learning Modules for the Common Core State Standards: Assessment Literacy
As part of its Common Core State Standards (CCSS) professional learning module series, the California Department of Education, in collaboration with the San Joaquin Valley County Office of Education, has developed an online module focused on the topic of assessment literacy. The resource is...
Common Core Curriculum Rubric: Meeting the Needs of ELLs
The purpose of this rubric is to help teachers and school and district administrators assess whether a Common Core-based curriculum meets English language learner (ELL) needs. The rubric was initially developed to help the authors review a state’s ESL curriculum to see if it would help ELLs meet...